Rectifying arrangement for alternating currents



Jul 13 1926.

M. LATOUR RECTIFYING ARRANGEMENT. FOR ALTERNATING CURRENTS.

Filed July 15. 1920 INVENTOR fllarz'l/s Lazour' BY M $0M, ATTORNEYSPatented July- 13, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

mamas LATOUR, or runs, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR TO nn'ronn CORPORATION, orJERSEY CITY, rmw JERSEY, A CORPORATION or DELAWARE.

RECTIFYING ARRANGEMENT FOR ALTERNATING CURRENTS.

Application filed July 15, 1920, Serial No, 396,500, and in FranceAugust 14, 1917.

(GRANTED 1mm THE rnovismns or THE ACT or minor: 3, 1921, 41 sum. I..,1313.

My invention relates to rectifying systems and more particularly torectifymg systems employing thermionic valves.

One of the principal objects of my nvention is the provision of arectifying system possessing the following advantages:

1. Heating of the filamentary cathodes of the valves in said system byalternating current and,

2. Protection of the valves in said against excessive current.

Other objects and advantages of my in system 'vention will be apparentfrom the following 2 description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of apreferred embodiment of my rectifying system and Fig. 2 is a schematicdiagram of a' modification of my invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, 1 and 2 are two-elemenb thermionic valves eachcomprising an anode 3 and a filamentary cathode 4. The anode of valve 1is connected to the filamentary cathode of valve 2 and the anode ofvalve 2 is connected to the filamentary cathode of valve 1 through twocondensers 5 and 6 connected in series as shown.

The primary winding 20 of transformer 7 is connected across a source ofalternating current power 8. One extremity of the secondary-winding 21of transformer 7 is con- I nected to the anode of valve 1 and thefilamentary cathode of valve 2 as shown; while the other extremity ofthe secondary winding 21 is connected between the two condensers 5 and6.

The filamentary cathodes '4 of the two valves are energized by means oftransformer 9 having two outside legs and one middle leg as shown. Theprimary winding 22 of'tra'nsformer 9 is mounted on the middle leg andconnected across the source of alternating current power 8. Thesecondary windings 23 and 24 are mounted on the two outside legs, thosewindings being so arranged that their ampere turns normally balanceresulting in substantially zero magnetic interaction between them. Thefilamentary cathode of valve 1 is connected across secondary winding 23and the filamentary cathode of valve 2 is connected across the othersecondary winding 24. Rectified current is supplied by the leads 10 and11 as shown.

Referring to Fig. 2, each filamentary cathode 4 is connected across asource of alternating current power 8 through a coil 12. These coils aremounted on a magnetic core 13 and are so arranged on'the core that theirampere turns-normally balance resulting in substantially zero magneticinteraction between them.

The system disclosed in Fig. 1 functions in. the fOllOWlIlg manner: Thevalve 1 rectifies one half of the alternating current wave while thevalve 2 rectifies the other half of the wave, the condensers 5 and 6serving to iron out the rectified current pulsations and also preventingshort-circuits between the anodes and filamentary cathodes of thevarious valves.

The filamentary cathodes 4 are energized the two secondary windingsresulting in a very substantial increase in the imped ance of thesecondary winding connected to the undamaged filamentary cathode. Thisresults in the substantial diminution of the current, in the undamagedfilamentary cathode thereby cutting down the load on the undamaged valveand preventing its burnmg out.

.The modified system disclosed in Fig. 2 functions as follows: The coils12 normally balance'each other magnetically.- Their "individualimpedances are therefore very small. If one of the filamentary cathodesburns out, one of the coils is substantially open-circuited resulting ina substantial increase in the impedance of the other coil. This increasein impedance substantially diminishes the current flowing in theundamaged filamentary cathode and prevents its burning out.

While I have shown and described various preferred embodiments of myinvention, I

do not limit myself to the same; but may employ such other modificationsas come within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Claims: i 1

1. In a system for rectifying alternating current, a source ofalternating current of a certain voltage, a plurality of electrondischarge devices each provided with a cathode and an anode, aphysically separate wholly metallic circuit in series with each cathode,a separate transformer winding in series with each circuit, eachtransformer winding being inductively connected to said source forsupplying alternating heating current to its circuit derived from saidsource, means for applying alternately to said an odes positivepotentials developed from said source whereby space currents flowalternately between the cathodes and the anodes of the respectivedevices, a plurality of capacities and connections for causing saidspace currents to charge said capacities one at a time and for causingsaid capacities to discharge in series, whereby unidirectional currentof a higher voltage than said source is developed.

2. In a current rectifying arrangement, of pair of electron dischargerectifiers, each provided with a filament and an anode, two physicallyseparate transformer windings, one of said, windings being connected inseries with one of said filaments and the other of said windings beingconnected in series with the other of said filaments, and an additionaltransformer winding, the anode of a first one of said rectifiers and thefilament of a second one of said rectifiers being connected to oneterminal of said additional winding, the filament of said firstrectifier being connected to the other terminal of said additionalwinding through a capacity and the anode of said other rectifier beingconnected to said last-mentioned terminal of said third winding througha second capacity.

3. In a current rectifying arrangement, a source of alternating currentto be rectified, a pair of electron discharge rectifiers, each providedwith a filament and an anode, two physically separate transformerwindings, one of said windings being connected in series with one ofsaid filaments and the other of said windings being connected in serieswith the other of said filaments, an additional transformer winding, andmeans for connecting said transformer windings inductively to saidsource of alternating current, the anode of a first one of saidrectifiers and the filament of a second one of said rectifiers beingconnected to one terminal of said additional winding, the filament ofsaid first rectifier being connected to the'other terminal of saidadditional winding through a capacity and the anode of said otherrectifier being connected to said last-mentioned terminal of saidadditional winding through a second capacity.

4. In a current rectifying arran ement, a pair of electron dischargerectiii ers each provided with a filament and an anode, two physicallyseparate transformer windings normally magnetically balanced withrespect to each. other, one of said windings being connected in serieswith one of said filaments, and the other winding being connected inseries with the other of said filaments, and an additional transformerwinding, the anode of a first one of said rectifiers and the filament ofa second one of said rectifiers being connected to one terminal of saidadditional winding, the filament of said first mentioned rectifier beingconnected to the other terminal of said additional winding through acapacity, and the anode of said other rectifier being connected to saidlast mentioned terminal of said additional winding through a secondcapacity.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

I MARIUS LATOUR.

